On gout : its history, its causes, and its cure / by William Gairdner.

  • Gairdner, William, 1793-1867.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On gout : its history, its causes, and its cure / by William Gairdner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    coats can no longer bear even the diminished im- petus of the blood. But, though the heart is now acting with less energy, the pressure of the cir- culating blood is, for various reasons, oftentimes greater than before. The limbs and moving powers, it is true, have diminished in bulk, but the belly is more protuberant. Fat has accumu- lated around the great viscera, which, joined to the congested state of these organs themselves, and the impeded circulation through them, forces an unnatural flow towards the head and brain. The records of medicine are full of examples of apoplexy consequent on and arising from gout. It is unnecessary to cite instances of that which is notorious to all physicians. Another termination of gout is menorrhagia in women at the age when they usually cease to menstruate. This is very frequently seen in a mitigated degree. As it is generally at this period of their lives that women are attacked by gout, the discharge of blood often serves the purpose of a vicarious disease and a cure. It generally alarms them much. There are cases, however, in which they are very justly alarmed. The loss of blood goes the length of extreme and dangerous flooding. But such cases are rare, and generally occur in women of loose fibre, of indolent life, and of self- indulgent habits in the matter of diet.